Star of the Sea
by crisis what crisis
Summary: "Mum always said you can't have the moon without the stars." Maris, older sister of Luna Lovegood, has successfully fit in with Hogwarts life while her sister...not so much. However, the wizarding world is being eclipsed by darkness and Maris must make some difficult choices concerning her family, friends and her own life.
1. Prologue

I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling wrote the series, not me.

Hey guys, it's another Harry Potter story. Luna's my favorite female character in the entire series and I often wondered how she might have fared at Hogwarts with an older sibling. I hope you all like Maris and find her to be a believable interesting character! Now, I'm not sure what the exact blood status of the Lovegoods are so I'm just gonna roll with pureblood because it seems more likely. If I'm proven wrong by future info from Pottermore...well, who pays attention to that stuff in fanfiction?

Anyway, here's the prologue! Please review and let me know what you think of this story!

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**Prologue**

Mum always said you can't have the moon without the stars. As an older sister, I was supposed to watch over Luna and be there to protect her in times my mum and daddy couldn't. I made that promise when I was eight, although I also made promises with Luna to one day be able to fly to the moon on the flapping wings of a Burlydove.

I made a lot of childish promises I never kept.

Our mum died from an accident from experimenting with new spells. I did not see it happen but Luna did, and for that I still regret not shielding her from the awfulness. I was only ten but I wish I had been there seconds earlier to prevent Mum from dying or to save my sister from seeing her death. For weeks Luna was quiet and did not say anything to me or Daddy. Daddy was worried about her health and tried every home remedy he could think of to get Luna to talk again. Meanwhile, I was preparing for my upcoming first year to Hogwarts, which proved difficult concerning Daddy's meager finances. Most of the money he had saved up went towards Mum getting a proper funeral and burial spot.

I remember it was raining on the day of Mum's funeral. My daddy, usually dressed in his fantastically colorful yet disheveled robes, was robed in black and his cross eyed gaze had been focused on the simple gray gravestone.

_Persephone White Lovegood_

_1953 - 1990_

_Beloved wife and mother_

Daddy had used most of his savings to pay for the nice burial spot for Mum, and the wizarding cemetery was a level above what we could usually afford. Mum deserved it though.

"Do you want to say anything, Maris?" Daddy asked me, gently removing his hand from my shoulder as he took a step back to give me some space with my mother. I was clutching a small daisy in my hand. I heard the sounds of the raindrops pounding the black canopy above us as I set the little flower on the curve of the gravestone. It rolled off the edge and landed on the freshly matted dirt.

"I love you Mum," I squeaked out in my quietest voice. The soft footsteps of my little sister approached as I felt her hand grasp mine as she placed a little handmade flower chain on the dirt.

"Love you Mum," she chimed, her voice shocking both Daddy and I. After weeks of not talking, Luna had finally piped up. I held her hand tighter as she rested her cheek against my arm, not saying anything else.

We were too young to bury our mother. Her death left me with the broken promise to shield Luna from the horrors of this world. I may have been only ten at the time but I knew at that very moment that I had to be responsible for anything that could ever happen to my parent's little moon.

* * *

It was poor timing that Mum died before I left for Hogwarts. What should have been a joyous family occasion was somber but sentimental as Daddy and Luna waved me off at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. I had no idea what I was getting into and I wished my Mum had offered me advice for my first year at wizarding school because frankly I needed it.

"Uh, hi," I waved awkwardly at three girls in a train compartment. They looked to be my age and judging by their expressions were quite happy to see me. One girl had curly blonde hair with a pink Alice band to hold back her bangs. The other two were a girl with brown hair and a girl of Indian descent.

"Oh hello!" The blonde girl chirped as she patted the empty seat beside her. "I'm Lavender! Those two are Parvati and Fay!" she giggle-pointed at the girls as I made my way into the small compartment. Parvati smiled at me while Fay lifted up her chin to quickly nod her head in acknowledgement.

I smiled at both of them as I rested my hands on my lap and smoothed out the wrinkles in my dress. "I'm Maris. Maris Lovegood," I introduced myself like a proper eleven year old girl should. I waited for their responses.

Fay tilted her head at me as Parvati twiddled with a lock of her hair. Lavender however turned around and faced me. "Lovegood? Your daddy writes that wacky paper, doesn't he? The _Bobbler_ or whatever?"

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. "The _Q-Quibbler_," I stuttered out to correct her.

Lavender chewed over that for a second as she shrugged her shoulders dramatically and grabbed my hands. "You're not _that_ weird, are you? Hmm?" Her peppy brown eyes narrowed at me as she leaned in to my personal space. Fay and Parvati were also looking at me curiously, expecting me to say something.

Having lived in a rook shaped house with hardly any surrounding neighbors, my only closest friend was Luna. Daddy didn't receive much company after Mum's death and although Mum had come from a prestigious pureblood family, my grandparents weren't too fond of Daddy himself. I chewed the inside of my lip as Lavender waited for my answer.

"No," I stretched out the anxious smile on my face.

Lavender grinned as she nearly crunched me into a giant hug, rubbing her cheek against mine as a display of friendly affection. "Yay! We're going to be _best friends_! Ooh, I hope we all get sorted into the same house!" and she chattered on with Fay and Parvati, who accepted me into the group now that I had Lavender's seal of approval.

My legs nervously kicked back and forth as I joined in on the conversation about Hogwarts and the four houses. Although I was happy to find friends so quickly on the train, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt for not being completely truthful. Sure, I believed in Daddy's articles and his claimed sightings of fantastical critters but we also lived in the middle of nowhere. I wanted friends outside of Daddy and Luna. Certainly he wouldn't mind if I pretended to be normal just for a while?

* * *

Like I said, this is just the prologue as well as testing the waters. I'm going to save you guys the pain of several chapters about Maris' first four years of Hogwarts and just jump right into the beginning of Maris' fifth year, so basically at the start of OotP.

Let me know your thoughts. I'm really excited to start writing the drama of being the "white sheep" in a family of black sheep. I wonder which house Maris was sorted into...hmm...


	2. Chapter One

I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling wrote the series, not me.

Wow! I'm blown away by all the reception! I'm glad you all like Maris so far because well, let's face it, she has a _completely_ different set of priorities from her sister Luna. As for pairings, I dunno yet for Maris. I'm planning on canon pairings though, but romance isn't the focal point of this fic so we'll see~

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**Chapter One**

For once, the sun was actually shining in Ottery St. Catchpole opposed to the usual gray glumness that shrouded our rook shaped house in the midst of hills and gardens. I murmured awake as I rolled out of bed and blearily looked over to my sister's sunflower bed. We shared a bedroom together although our personal sections had become separate and completely independent of each other in the past few years. You wouldn't think the room was shared by sisters aside from the pale blue carpet on the floor.

Luna's portion of our bedroom contained her hand drawn paintings on the walls and her golden self-enchanted garlands that were decorated around the edges of the ceiling. A picture of us two hugging our mother was the only actual photograph she cared to have on her desk. Luna was always more creative in the arts than I was and she had a little sketchbook stuffed under her bed that I used to leaf through when she wasn't looking. Mainly it was doodles of flowers or imaginary creatures but I saw some portraits of her friend Ginny Weasley. I sighed, thinking that the poor redhead was probably Luna's only friend aside from me. The Weasley clan were the closest people we had for neighbors aside from the Diggorys but we hardly saw them.

My own bedroom walls held framed posters of last summer's Quidditch World Cup tournament. The Lovegoods had always supported the Irish National Quidditch team but I also had a poster of the Bulgarian Quidditch team to please Parvati. Instead of paintings and drawings I had newspaper clippings (not from _The Quibbler_ much to Daddy's chagrin) and photographs pinned to the walls. On my little wooden desk sat photographs of Lavender, Parvati and I in various places. Lavender was smiling and grinning her cheerful white smile, Parvati had her arm around my shoulder and I was making a silly gesture into the camera. This one was taken at Hogsmeade in third year. This other one was when we danced at the Yule Ball, after Parvati ditched Harry Potter to dance with us. Despite the fact we were all in the same house, I hardly knew Harry Potter outside his claim to fame as the Boy Who Lived. Lavender pressed Parvati for the juicy details but after what she told us, Harry seemed more like a wet rag than a potential love interest.

I smiled as I looked away from the photographs and remembered that I dyed my hair last night. Unfortunately my hardly-started day crashed down when I approached the wall mirror to see how the magical mixture turned out.

As far as mornings go, this day would be tacked down onto my list of 'worst mornings to wake up to'. I held out several strands of my hair in my fist as I gawked at my reflection in the square wall mirror in our bedroom. I'm surprised the mirror didn't crack at my face because the image of me with this awful hair coloring was horrifying. Last week I mentioned in a letter to Lavender that I wanted a new look for fifth year because I was tired of my blonde hair. She sent me a carton of Madame Hortensia's Hair Fantasia in this vibrant red color that she gushed '_would look super cute on me_'. I thought I carefully followed the directions. I don't understand what went wrong.

"You look like a strawberry," Luna with her unabashed honesty frightened me from behind as I whipped around on my heel and fumed. "I think it looks very surprising. Does it change colors throughout the day?" she asked me with eyebrows raised.

_Oh Luna_. "I don't want to look like a strawberry! I can't go to Hogwarts looking like _this_!" I screeched as I thumbed through my scalp. Oh Merlin, the color completely bled through my hair. There was not a trace of my naturally pale blonde color. It looked so fake and ...ugh, Lavender was going to get it good.

"Breakfast, girls!" Daddy called for us from downstairs as I stuck out my lip and prepared myself for Daddy's reaction to my new hair color. If Luna was a prediction then I knew Daddy wasn't going to understand my plight.

"I hope we have ketchup and cheese omelettes," Luna dreamily said as I felt my stomach churn at the very image of those disgusting breakfast omelettes. Our father was far from a cook but perhaps out of guilt I ate his food anyway. Mum had a knack for baking spells and her chocolate chip pancakes were the most delicious I had ever tasted.

"Morning, morning," Daddy greeted us in mid-flip of the omelette, the stench of onions filling my nostrils as I put on a weak smile. "Did you do something new to your hair, dear?" he pointed to my shock-red hair.

I grumbled, sitting down at the little kitchen table with Luna as I blunted the knife on the tabletop. "Can you fix it?" I asked, desperately hoping one of his off-the-wall remedies could revert my hair color back to normal.

"Sorry love, I don't. I'm afraid I never found much use in styling...ah, magic," he told me as he grinned when the omelettes were fully cooked as he tucked his wand in the pocket of his robe. "I believe you look like a lovely Fumblesprite. I hear their manes are a bright, fiery red."

I lowered my head and smacked my face against the empty plate in front of me. Not the advice I wanted. Luna blinked at me strangely, probably finding it odd that I was currently smushing my face against the china plate like I were a complete idiot. In a family of oddballs, I was the odd one out. And now I really stuck out with the bright red hair that I didn't want.

The worst thing was that Luna and I were going back to Hogwarts tomorrow and my hair would certainly be circulating around the rumour mill. I desperately hoped that I caught Parvati and Lavender on the train before anyone else saw me with this awful hair color. Maybe Lavender had a hat or something...

"Maris?" Luna said in mid-bite of her drippy omelette. I nearly retched at the sight of that nasty food but I forced a piece of Daddy's cooking down my throat. It was a sacrifice to my pride but Daddy would be happy about it.

"Yeah?"

"Oh nothing. Thought I saw something sprout from your hair. I think it's just my eyes playing tricks again," she shrugged it off as she wore her usual hazy smile and took a polite sip of her orange juice.

"Very funny Luna," I mumbled, chugging down an entire glass of milk to drown out the taste of the ketchup and cheese omelette. Just two more bites and I could say I was done with breakfast and scrounge for some Pumpkin Pasties in my room for lunch.

"Oh no, it's not a laughing matter. Daddy published an article last week about the growing dangers of Jubbledills taking root in people's scalps and sprouting little flowers right on the top of their heads. Didn't you read it?" Luna asked me, taking a new copy of the family newspaper from the towering stack behind her and pushing the newspaper towards me as I half-heartedly flipped through the pages. Daddy watched me with interest as I finally got to the page where a crudely drawn cartoon of a wizard with twisty flowers graced the large title **'JUBBLEDILLS: FRIEND OR FIEND?'**

"I'm informed now," I sighed as I turned _The Quibbler_ over and finished the last nasty bite of breakfast. I found myself imagining being in the Patil household eating all the deliciously spicy home cooking of Parvati and Padma's family. Or even with Lavender, where her family could afford to go eat at fancy breakfast delis with croissants, beignets and doughnuts. Anything right now sounded tastier than Daddy's odd choices of cuisine.

I could see it in Luna's eyes that she knew I skimmed over the article but made no mention of it. She ate another one of Daddy's breakfast omelettes as I handed my plate and glass to our father with a forced grin. "Thanks."

"Anytime, little star. Oh, don't forget to bring some copies to give to all your friends," he reminded me hopefully as I begrudgingly took a few issues of _The Quibbler_ and went back upstairs to my room while I heard him say, "Readership has gone up by 2%, isn't that grand Luna?"

_Two percent? More like two people_, I thought to myself as I plopped myself back onto my bed. I just wanted to pretend my hair wasn't this dreadful mess and that I had at least one more week of summer holiday before I had to go back to Hogwarts. I rolled onto my side and saw my stack of new books and robes resting nicely on my desk chair. We had gone to Sweden this summer to look for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack (which was absolutely boring for me but exciting for Daddy and Luna) as sort of a "family outing". The only good that came from the vacation was that Daddy managed to find both of our required textbooks and supplies for cheap.

The problem was the textbooks were written in Swedish. I suppose I could do a simple Translation spell to fix that but it was still somewhat annoying. The glint of my Gryffindor badge on my robes caught my eye as I let out a puff of air and my bangs floated up and then hit my face again.

_Now I really am a Gryffindor_, a small voice inside of me laughed at the similarity of the red colors. If I absolutely had to maybe I could pass it off as Gryffindor pride or as a practical joke from the Weasley twins. I was interrupted by Luna entering our bedroom as she stood above me with her radish earrings dangling carelessly.

"I made you a present," she told me matter-of-factly as I propped myself up on one arm and waited for her to continue. "You can wear them on the train tomorrow if you like."

"Oh Luna, you really didn't have to," I grimaced behind her turned back before replacing the expression with a simple close-lipped smile when she faced me again. My sister's quirkiness was lovable sometimes but she could be a little too out-of-the-box for me. For my last birthday she painted a watercolor picture of us flying on the back of a Burlydove just like I promised her years ago. If that wasn't guilt inducing I don't know what was.

"Here," she beamed as her silvery-grey eyes widened at me. I looked down in the palm of my hand and saw a pair of nicely shaped stud earrings. They were ocean blue discs of clay with small painted white dots that I assumed were stars. I could tell she made this without magic because there was a thumbprint on the back of one of the discs and her initials 'LL' etched onto each one. A Luna Lovegood original, just like the rest of her jewelry.

The earrings were pretty cute and I didn't feel too embarrassed receiving them. I fixed the studs in my empty pierced ears and looked over my shoulder to see myself in the mirror. They almost distracted me from that hideous shade of red in my hair. _Almost._

"I like them Luna." I meant it. I hadn't been too honest with her or Daddy lately due to our differences and tastes but wearing her homemade earrings made me feel a little kinder towards Luna.

Luna said nothing as she raised up her shoulders happily and skipped over to her desk to quietly work on some drawings. Luna was always the type to not ruin the moment, a trait I appreciated in her. I bit the inside of my cheek as I inhaled deeply, about to regret my impending decision.

"Do you want me to sit with you tomorrow? On the train, I mean." I hadn't done so since Luna's first year. Usually she sat alone or sometimes with Ginny while I shared my compartment with my best friends Lavender and Parvati.

Her ears perked up but she didn't turn around in her chair. I exhaled, not really expecting an answer from her as I left my bed and took the earrings out of my ears to set them aside on my desk. Right when I was tidying my hair into a low ponytail I heard her answer, "I'd like that."

* * *

Awww, sisterly interaction. I really wanted to shed some light on Luna's artistic qualities because, well, she's cool like that. Maris is more into photography, haha. I hope I've kept Luna and Xenophilius in character.

As always, let me know your thoughts :) Next chapter will be the official start to the events of OotP.


	3. Chapter Two

I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling wrote the series, not me.

Thanks for all the kind words and favorites/alerts. To avoid fully relying on dialogue from the text I will kind of change some things around just to spice the fic up. If you wanted exact lines, go read the book :P

Anyway, enjoy chapter two!

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**Chapter Two**

Even though I had been at the train station four times before today, I always got a rush from passing through the magical barrier and entering the famous Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Luna was at my side with her trolley, her silvery grey eyes surveying the pushing crowds that engulfed us. I enjoyed the chaotic bustle of tearful parents waving off their first year children or the returning students who dragged their luggage up the ramp and joined their friends immediately afterwards. It felt...well, it felt _normal_ to come back to the Hogwarts Express after spending the too-short summer holiday with my eccentric father and sister.

Of course, I was still going to be around Luna but it was too late for me to go back on my promise that I'd sit with her.

"Write to me and let me know how your friends like _The Quibbler_! I want some narrow minds being opened!" he shouted after us with an emphatic wave of his hands as I quickly tugged Luna aboard the train with our luggage.

My screech owl Lavinia hooted at the sudden yank as I apologized through my teeth, keeping my eyes peeled for an empty compartment. I was hoping to pass by Parvati and Lavender to explain why I was going to sit with my sister instead of them but I couldn't spot the two anywhere. I also wanted to a reason to shout at Lavender for sending me the infernal hair dye that was already giving me strange looks. I can imagine it now. Maris Lovegood, just as dotty as her little sister and lunatic father. Four years of building a reputation with nice, pretty Gryffindor girls down the drain. Loony Luna and Mental Maris.

"I want one with a nice view of the moors. You know, when we pass by them," Luna told me as I shook my head at her statement. "I'd like to actually see if the phantom dog really does show up, like the one that Daddy read in that Muggle mystery book."

"Luna, they're _all_ window compartments," I murmured as I finally jumped at the opportunity to find that the very last compartment in this section of the train was free. Wheeling in our luggage and plopping down Lavinia's cage on the free space between the two seats, I quickly situated myself right by the window and Luna did the same, taking out a copy of Daddy's latest edition of The Quibbler that we had received yesterday as she sat across from me. I was thankful she didn't snuggle up to me like she did her first year. That was embarrassing.

I hadn't realized the train had taken off and the houses began to blur into one other, letting me doze off into my own thoughts. If I were with my best friends right now, Parvati would be telling me all the latest things she read in the horoscope section of _Witch Weekly_. Lavender would be on the receiving end of me barking at her for the current state of my hair and then she would give me those sad puppy dog brown eyes of hers and I'd shrug it off.

The voices outside our compartment door grew louder as I snapped out of my daydream and my Gryffindor sensibilities led me to confront the people outside my door. That was when I bumped into Luna's only friend, Ginny Weasley. The athletic red head looked at me like I was out of place, no doubt noticing my bright red hair, as Ginny smiled when she peeked over my shoulder and saw Luna sitting there.

"Oh, hi Maris," Ginny finally greeted me as her brown eyes looked over my hair. "Nice hair. Is it alright if we join you?"

I folded my arms and noticed the two other boys standing next to her. My jaw almost went slack when I recognized the lightning bolt scar on the forehead of the tall, black haired lanky boy. The other guy, well, that was just Neville Longbottom. In terms of outcast, he'd be on the same list as my sister.

"Er, yeah. Yeah, you're not bothering us. Come on in," I lightened my mood as I stepped back into the compartment and sat in my seat. Luna hadn't once looked up from the magazine as she scratched behind her ear, lightly nudging the wand stuck in between her hair and ear. My sister had weird habits, one of which including hardly blinking for a normal human being. She had won many staring contests when we were little by her lack of blinking.

I watched Ginny, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom filter slowly into our compartment, sensing a strong aura of avoidance from Neville as I raised my brow at how uncomfortable he looked. He knew the rumors about my sister, didn't he? Probably knew her as Loony Luna. Anyway, I gulped when Harry decided to sit next to me, his presence gaining Luna's sudden interest as she tilted her head curiously at him. Ginny saw this and decided to ask us the most default question ever.

"Did you have a good summer, Luna? Maris?" Ginny rested her chin on her hand as she glanced between us.

"Yes," she replied in her usual tone of voice. "It was quite enjoyable. _You're_ Harry Potter," she added, raising her chin up a little as her wide eyes shifted from her lock onto Harry's face.

"I know I am," Harry answered rather flatly, a tone which turned me off. Parvati was right, he was a wet rag. He looked over at me, about to say something but forgetting my name already. It's not like we were in the same House for the past four years. Then again, I wasn't really in the same crowd he was involved with.

"Maris," I answered his implied question.

"Oh," was all he said. "I knew that."

Neville let out a meek chuckle at Harry's responses as I rolled my eyes. Considering how lame he was, he certainly had no right to find us funny. Luna changed eye direction from Harry to Neville as her absent smile faded a little. "I don't know who you are."

"I'm no one," he replied glumly. _No wonder people tease him with that kind of Debbie Downer attitude_, I inwardly thought. The only difference between him and my sister was that Luna didn't seem to care she was bullied. Neville practically invited it with his level of low self-esteem. Hard to believe he was in the House of courage and bravery.

"Neville stop," With a sharp sigh Ginny shook her head as she patted him on the shoulder. "Luna, this is Neville. Neville, Luna. She's in my year but in Ravenclaw. Maris is in our House but in you and Harry's year," she explained better than I could. "But uh, I guess you all already knew that."

"Sort of," Neville slowly admitted. "Maybe. No, not really."

The compartment became silent after that, which suited me just fine. My sister was singing '_Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure_' under her breath, causing Ginny to giggle at the facial expressions on Harry and Neville's faces. Ginny encouraged Luna's weirdness while I tried to hide it. The weather outside was unpredictable as the sunny sky quickly morphed into grey clouds and the coldness slipped into our compartment. Lavinia hooted once more as I shushed her; Lavinia was a scaredy-owl and she was known to not deliver mail if it were raining outside.

"You're friends with Parvati, aren't you?" Harry's voice surprised me as I looked up from Lavinia back to him.

"Best," I added.

Harry awkwardly nodded. "Is she uh, still mad about the Yule Ball?"

I reclined against the seat once more and mulled it over in my head. To be honest, Parvati didn't tell Lavender or I too much about being Harry's Yule Ball date. However, she was peeved at the fact he never asked her to dance and that he was not as awesome as she expected to be. I pushed my lips to the side and darted my eyes back to Harry, ready to answer.

"Not anymore. I don't think Parvati was mad, but she was definitely annoyed. Heard you aren't much of a dancer," and my lips turned up a bit with a smirk on my face.

"I'm not," he replied and left it at that. I could tell he didn't want to discuss it much further as Neville piped up with,

"Guess what I got for my birthday!"

_I don't care_, I rolled my eyes. I remember the year he got the Remembrall and then stupidly lost it. Maybe he got another one so he could find the one he lost.

"Another Remembrall?" Harry asked and I wanted to snort. Just what I was thinking. While the two guys were talking, I looked over to Luna. She was engrossed in Daddy's articles, drowning out the sounds around her. For a moment I envied how easy it was for her to just become a wallflower. I could never slip away from people quite like she could.

"Luna?" I asked. "I—," but I never finished my question because in a matter of seconds, I was drenched in nasty goop. And I yelled. _Loud_. The rancid smell filled my lungs and I shook my fingers to shake off the nasty dark green slime.

I saw a bulbous, ugly plant on Neville's lap that I assumed he smuggled along for the trip and using my amazing obvious deduction skills figured the nasty liquid spurted from the cactus-looking plant. If there was another reason to be annoyed by Neville's presence, this would be one right now. Luna frowned when she saw the gross liquid splattered all over The Quibbler and for a split second I felt sorry. Moment gone.

"S-sorry everyone, I didn't think t-that would happen," Neville stammered and apologized to all of us. "Don't worry though, Stinksap's not poisonous," he put on a meek, stretched out grin but I was too angry. First the hair, now the manure smelling sap. How pleasant this train ride was going.

It only got worse when popular Cho Chang decided to grace us with her presence, peeking into our stinky compartment as she asked for Harry. I tightly folded my arms against my chest, not too impressed with the recent turn of events. As soon as Harry's eyes lashed at the pretty Ravenclaw seeker, I knew he had the hots for Cho. Luna noticed the interaction too as I prepared for another blunt observation.

"Harry likes her," she said simply, causing everyone to whip their heads in Luna's direction. "I don't think we're cool enough for Harry."

_I'm cool. Well, certainly not as popular as Miss Cho Chang but I'm cool_. I told myself this but it didn't really work. Maris Lovegood's wacky new hair color would certainly be the talk of the town.

Nobody knew how to react to Luna's statement because she was right. After all, The Boy Who Lived liked The Girl With Shiny Black Hair. Ginny looked a little hurt by Luna's comment about the lowering levels of coolness in the compartment but brightened up as she whipped out her wand and exclaimed, "_Scourgify!_" Instantly, all the icky goop was gone and I exhaled a breath of relief.

"Thanks," I sincerely thanked her for now I was only worried about my hair and not the Stinksap. Ginny shrugged as if to say 'Don't mention it.'

"Sorry," Neville mumbled quietly. He had some red streaks across his baby face and rightfully embarrassed for causing the Stinksap incident. Like I said, out. cast.

* * *

Luckily, the food trolley rolled by and saved everyone from talking about the events from the last few minutes. I eyed the colorful displays of Pumpkin Pasties, Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes but unfortunately Luna and I only had enough money from Daddy to buy two or three of the same treat. Feeling benevolent, I asked Luna what she wanted to eat.

"Bertie Botts!" she smiled at me, setting down her newly clean _Quibbler_ to look at me with those child-like protuberant eyes of hers. I didn't personally like jellybeans but I couldn't say no as I asked for two boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. The old woman handed the two boxes for us as I gave one to Luna.

"I like the cheese flavors the most," she happily told me as she popped a white-yellow one in her mouth. I fingered the opening to my box, not really feeling like eating almond flavored jellybeans or worse, bogey.

I stayed quiet with Luna as I watched Ginny, Harry and Neville bite off the heads of their Chocolate Frogs and quickly look at the card they got. Ginny cheered when she got a Gwenog Jones card while Neville slumped in his seat when he told her this was the fourth Bowman Wright Card he got.

"Ooh, I'll trade you that one for the Bridget Wenlock card I just opened," Ginny traded the cards between her and Neville as she glimpsed over to Luna and I. She tossed us a Chocolate Frog each.

Feeling better that I had something to nosh on other than a random flavored jellybean, I nodded at Ginny and carefully opened the package and chomped down on the magically enchanted frog and scarfed down the chocolate. I saw the glittering card it held and brought it close to my face.

"Newt...Scamander?" I quietly asked, watching the portrait of the famed wizard naturalist flicker in front of my eyes. I think he wrote a book about magical beasts or something.

Luna perked up, having so far ignored her Chocolate Frog. "Daddy likes him very much. If it weren't for Mr. Scamander, the whole field of Magizoology would hardly exist without his contributions," she explained it so clearly that she actually sounded like a normal Ravenclaw girl instead of my little sister. Even Harry was caught off guard by her explanation.

"Aren't you going to eat yours?" I changed the subject.

Luna shrugged as she patted the wrapped candy. "I'm going to keep it as a pet. I've never had one before."

"You can't," spoke Neville, apparently the foremost expert on toads and frogs and other gross things. "Chocolate Frogs aren't really frogs."

I decided to cut in for Luna's sake. "Psh, let Luna keep the thing. At least it won't spray Stinksap on everyone," I coolly reminded Neville of his nasty plant. That shut him up.

Right when everything settled down again, the compartment door was opened and I saw two familiar Gryffindor faces wearing Prefect Badges. One of them was none other than Ginny's older brother and the other girl was the brightest student in Hogwarts. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, also in my House.

In fact I shared a dorm suite with Hermione. Hard to believe, isn't it? I hardly ever had conversation with her considering I spent my time to Lavender and Parvati and judging by the fact she was Muggleborn, she didn't quite get all our witch and wizard gossip. Plus, she spent her time with Ron and Harry so I doubt she'd want to talk to us anyway.

Deciding to stay out of the conversation, I eavesdropped on who the new prefects were for our year. Obviously Hermione and Ron for my House. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson for Slytherin, ugh no surprise there. Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw...

"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma," Luna spoke vaguely towards Ginny's brother, momentarily setting aside her magazine as Ron gave her a confused look. I don't believe he knew her at all.

"Yeah I did," Ron visibly gulped, obviously uncomfortable about the subject like his friend Harry. Come to think of it, I never asked Parvati how her twin felt about Ron and how her night went. Although the Weasley was no Harry Potter, he was kind of like second place. I mean, he was okay looking but not really my type.

"She didn't enjoy it very much," Luna told him. "Padma thinks you didn't treat her very well because you two didn't dance. But I don't think I would have minded," and she had a much more thoughtful air to her usually dreamy voice. "I don't care for dancing. Maris likes dancing though."

I frowned. I _liked_ dancing, I just didn't like dancing with a date. For the Yule Ball last year, I went with Hufflepuff Justin Finch-Fletchley and trust me, never again. Parvati had set me up with him (having heard a rumor from Susan Bones who heard it from Irene Casey that he told Hannah Abbott that he thought I was cute) and although he was nice and cheerful, he was rather...um...attached. Fortunately I had politely told him I wanted to hang out with my friends instead and he seemed to take it well although maybe a little wounded in pride. He hadn't talked to me since the Yule Ball and I was hoping not to see him this year.

"Oi that's right, you _were_ with Finch-Fletchley," Ron raised both his brows but didn't say much after that because I was glaring hard at him.

* * *

Time passed and I was painfully thinking that this train ride would never end. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were the ones who mostly talked the entire ride, with Neville occasionally contributing some lame sentence to whatever they were discussing. It was strange because although this entire compartment was nearly Gryffindor save Luna, I felt a bit...left out. I mainly talked with Lavender and Parvati, occasionally Fay Dunbar and sometimes even Marissa Filbert if I was really desperate for a friend. I tossed a jellybean in my mouth, hoping it were a good flavor and not like earwax or cotton.

Nope, it was chili powder. Yuck. I spat it out, the jellybean hitting the baseboard of the compartment seats and attracting Neville's attention as he eyed the spit covered jelly bean on the carpeted floor. I think he expected me to pick it up but I didn't.

"What? It was bloody gross," as I tried to drown the spicy flavor with what I hoped was marshmallow. Thankfully it was. I chewed it slowly as I leaned back and discovered Harry was reading The Quibbler. I felt like a sack of bricks just slammed down into my stomach.

_Oh no. He's going to think it's a load of rubbish and then he'll probably think I believe the same things._ Worse, he was reading the Sirius Black article and his green eyes looked up to me as I pretended to not have seen him reading. I sunk into my seat once more, preparing for the inevitable.

Ron Weasley saw Harry read the magazine as he asked, "Anything good in there?"

Harry closed the magazine, ready to speak when know-it-all Hermione Granger cut in. _Oh no. _

"Of course not, The Quibbler is absolute rubbish! Everyone knows that," and her big mouth started it.

My little sister Luna is not the angry type. No, if anyone in the Lovegood family inherited a temper, it was me. However my sister if provoked, could quickly become unfeeling and cold. It would be like the time she didn't say anything for weeks after Mum died. Luna had a different control over her emotions like I did and the fact Hermione Granger just insulted our father wouldn't go over well with her. Luna didn't care if she was bullied or insulted but the moment anyone speaks ill of Daddy, she does change her whole behavior.

"Excuse me," Luna sharply spoke right at Hermione, grabbing her undivided attention with how concrete her voice had become. "Our father is the editor."

_Our father_. I felt guilty and mortified at the same time, slumping my shoulders as I tried to avoid everyone's looks at me. Luna knew I didn't care for Daddy's magazine or even read it half the time but she still said 'our'. _Luna, Luna, Luna._

Hermione on the other hand had been stunned by my sister's sudden change in demeanor and when I did turn around to look at her, she was quite embarrassed. I saw her eyes dart to me and I think she finally made the connection that her roommate and Luna Lovegood were sisters. "I—oh. Well, I mean, if you want to believe the sort of things in there..."

Smooth. I saw Luna snatch back The Quibbler right out of Harry's hands and turned it upside down and continued to read it. This meant she did not want to be talked to anymore.

"Are you sure you're related to her?" Ron quietly asked me but I merely glowered at him. Like I said before, Loony Luna and Mental Maris.

* * *

I'll end it here since it's got a bit too long. Next chapter, part two of the Hogwarts train ride. Draco! Thestrals! Luna and Harry can see them but Maris can't. Hmm...


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